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alt="One CAN simply walk into Mordor. But first they need donations."
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Turns out not all gamers are
soulless gear-grinding beasts.
The folks from A Casual Stroll to Mordor, a href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro">Lord of the Rings
Online blogging group, are organizing an
interesting walkathon of sorts: following in the footsteps of Frodo and
company from the Shire all the way to Rivendell. The more money they
raise, the further along that path they will walk - $5,000 is all it
will take to get them knocking on Elrond's front door.

From the official press release:

Today the blog and podcast team at A Casual Stroll to
Mordor(CSTM) announced that on September 23rd they will embark on an
online
journey to raise funds for Child’s Play Charity.


The fellowship of writers will depart from Bag End, and
following Frodo’s steps, will walk through Middle-Earth in the game The
Lord of the Rings Online™ (LOTRO) by Turbine.


Every donation made to Child’s Play through this event will
enable the fellowship to move a bit further along the road. The team's
goal is to reach $5,000 in donations and to bring the group to
Rivendell.


Supported mainly by the gaming community, Child’s Play’s
mission is to give out games and toys to sick children in hospitals.
Since 2003, more than 5 million dollars worth of material has been
given to children’s hospital playrooms.


"Child's Play was the perfect choice of charity for the CSTM team. It
combines two loves we have; children and video games.", says Jamie aka
Goldenstar, co-founder CSTM, "Our own child had to spend several weeks
in intensive care and we understand the importance in keeping
children's spirits up."


"As a child, I suffered 3rd degree burns to the upper area of one of my
arms which eventually required hospitilization to repair the damage. I
cannot express how much having video games, movies, and toys there at
the hospital meant to me." - Dodge, aka Merric, co-founder of CSTM.


The Fellowship’s Walk will begin on Septermber 23rd and will be going
on through October 24th.

The journey begins at Bag-End,
and makes stops in Hobbiton, Crickhollow, Tom Bombadil's house, the
Great Spire in the Barrow-downs, the Prancing Pony, Weathertop, the
Last Brige, the grove of Bert, Tom and Bill the trolls, and the Bruinen
Ford, with the Last Homely House as the desired destination. Check the href="http://www.casualstrolltomordor.com/2010/09/childsplay/">Casual
Stroll to Mordor website for details on how you can help this
noble and worthy cause.